Xavier Caféine is a

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

rock vocalist, multi instrumentalist, composer and producer from the province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of his band Cafeine and has also released music under alternate spellings; Caféine, Xavier Caféïne, or Caféïne. Xavier received formal

Jazz-Pop Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

bass training at the Cégep Marie-Victorin school in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. His first release was the indie-punk album ''Mal éduqué mon amour'' in 1998 sung entirely in French. The follow-up album ''Pornstar'' was released in 2000, leaning toward a more

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

sound, with English lyrics. In August 2006, he released ''Gisèle'' on Indica Records as a solo project. Once again Xavier wrote the music, sang and performed most of the instruments on his album. Additional drums were recorded by his friend

Michel Langevin Michel "Away" Langevin (born May 30, 1963) is a Canadian musician, best known as a founding member and drummer of heavy metal band Voivod. He has been a constant member of the band since its formation in 1982. Langevin is credited with the cr ...

of Voivod. Gisèle considered a classic French-language punk rock album, earning two

ADISQ ADISQ (; ) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the independent record labels, independent music industry in Quebec. It was created in 1978. Since 1979, it has also organized an annual awards ceremony for musicians and singer ...

2007 nominations for "Best Rock Album of the Year" and "Best Male Artist", and winning the GAMIQ 2007 award for "Best Rock Album". The

Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

awarded him the "2008 Discovery of the Year Song" award for "La fin du monde". Cafeine's most recent album New Love was released again on Indica Records in 2013. The album was produced by

Gus Van Go Gus van Go is a Canadian-American producer, mixer, and musician best known for his work with The Beaches (band), The Beaches, Metric (band), Metric, Arkells, The Stills, The Sam Roberts Band, Lowell, Whitehorse (band), Whitehorse, and Hollerado. ...

, giving the sound a crisper, more modern electro-punk-pop-rock sound. Singles "New Love", "Electric" and "L'ettre D'Amour" each reached the top 15 French-Canadian Commercial Alternative Radio BDS charts. New Love was primarily recorded in English with alternate French language versions for "Electric" and "L'ettre D'Amour". On February 17, 2015, New Love was digitally released in the US, marking the first time Cafeine's music received domestic distribution in a territory outside of Canada. The USA album cover art was changed from a photo of Cafeine to a blown out photo of a headless angel. A cover version of

The Gun Club The Gun Club were an American post-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce, they were notable as one of the first bands in the punk rock subculture to i ...

's song Sex Beat was included as a bonus track. As a live performer, Cafeine is known for his high-octane-punk intensity.

Le Journal de Québec ''Le Journal de Québec'' is a French-language daily newspaper in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Printed in tabloid format, it has the highest circulation for a Quebec City newspaper, with its closest competitor being '' Le Soleil''. It was foun ...

quoted "he is still a beast on stage" referencing Toronto's alternative weekly

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

Magazine who declared "Cafeine is amazing, what a beast on stage". Established as a beloved personality, Cafeine regularly makes live appearances on French-Canadian music television such as Radio-Canada Television's show Stereopop or MusiquePlus specials such as Pop de jam. In 2007, Belgian singer

Plastic Bertrand Roger François Jouret (born 24 February 1954), better known as Plastic Bertrand, is a Belgium, Belgian musician, songwriter, producer, editor and television presenter, best known for the 1977 international hit single "". Biography Early life ...

contacted him to collaborate on the writing and composing of his new album "Dandy Bandit". Together they wrote seven songs. The two remain good friends, periodically performing together live as recently as June 24, 2015 in Montreal for the annual St. Jean Baptiste holiday. The free outdoor concert was attended by over 15,000 people in the streets of the Villeray area of Montreal and presented by La fete national dans Villeray 2015.Facebook post
Other producer & songwriting collaborations include two albums for French-Canadian punk band

Gazoline Gazoline is a Canadian rock band from Chicoutimi, Quebec (now Saguenay, Quebec). Its music is a mix of new wave, pop, and punk rock. Biography First album Created by former members of Chicoutimi band Les Horn Abbots, led by Xavier Thériaul ...

, "Futurbabymama" (2012) and their self-titled album Gazoline (2014).

Discography

*1998: ''Mal éduqué mon amour'' *2000: ''Pornstar'' *2004: ''Poxy'' *2006: ''Gisèle'' *2009: ''Bushido'' *2013: ''New Love''

References

19th Annual SOCAN Awards ListArtist profile on Musique Plus
(French only)
Artist profile on Bande à Part

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

(French only)

External links

Music Videos
Official YouTube
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafeine, Xavier Year of birth missing (living people) Living people French-language singers of Canada Canadian rock singers Canadian male singers Singers from Quebec